1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to handholdable surgical devices, and more particularly to shaped scalpels.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Surgical lesion removal has in the past been attempted using a variety of surgical tools and techniques, some of which are specially adapted for a particular procedure. For example, large lesion removal from, e.g., the human breast, is typically attempted through an open incision using an ordinary surgical knife or scalpel. While the use of scalpels is widely accepted, they are not designed to minimize the invasiveness of the procedure. During the procedure, it is usually necessary to form an incision which is much larger than the legion which is targeted for removal, so that the surgeon can work around, under, and over the legion to remove both the entire legion and a margin of tissue surrounding the lesion. The removal of a margin of tissue around the lesion is typically indicated, to be more certain that all of the lesion has been removed by the surgical procedure.
While the practice of removing tissue adjacent to a tissue mass of interest, e.g., a malignant or benign lesion, is followed in many lumpectomy procedures, the tools provided for a surgeon to remove the tissue are not well suited for performing the procedure. Straight and sculpted blade scalpels do not assist the surgeon in making the smallest cut necessary, and often require the surgeon to essentially dig out the tissue mass. The damage to the remaining tissues can be significant, resulting in considerable postoperative pain, excessive bleeding, long recovery times, the potential for infection, the potential for depression of the tissues at the surgical site (poor cosmesis) due to the removal of excessive tissue, and surface tissue scarring which is much larger than necessary.